Happy fall! Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. The leaves change colors and the weather gets cooler. There are football games, fun fall festivals, and pumpkin spice lattes! These are only a few of the many good things that happen in fall. There are many good things happening too with the Madison City Elementary Spanish program! In Kindergarten we have learned Hola "hi", adiós "bye", buenos días "good morning", buenas tardes "good afternoon", buenas noches "good night", yo me llamo "my name is.."), yo soy "I am", mira "look", escucha "listen", levanta la mano "raise your hand", no hablen "no talking", piensa "think", tiene "has", salta "jump", marcha "march", carmina "walk", corre "run", alto/para "stop", habla "talk", canta "sing", grita "shout", duerme "sleep", applaude "clap", saluda "say hi", señala "point", muerde "bite", llora "cry", basta ya "that's enough"), juega "play", "agarra "grab", tira "throw", patea la pelota "kick the ball", batea la pelota "bat the ball", rebota la pelota "bounce the ball", busca "look for", pega "hit", and monta en bicicleta "ride your bike". We continue to practice numbers one to ten(uno 1, dos 2, tres 3, cuatro 4, cinco 5, seis 6, siete 7, ocho 8, nueve 9, diez 10). We have read "El Oso Café" (Brown Bear, Brown Bear). We are practicing the vocabulary from "El Oso Café" (el oso café "brown bear", el pajáro rojo "red bird", el pato amarillo "yellow duck", el caballo azul "the blue horse", la rana verde "the green frog", el gato morado "the purple cat", el perro blanco "the white dog", la oveja negra "the black sheep", el pez dorado "the gold fish", la maestra "the teacher", and los niño "the children"). Looking ahead to November we will discuss some cultural aspects of "El Día de los Muertos". We will talk about how on November 1st and 2nd Mexicans remember their loved ones who have passed away with food, flowers, and by spending time together with their families. We will also learn the sound of "los vocales" (vowels) in Spanish. Remember you can always look at the "What's Happening" page of our website for more detailed information. I've included the link to our website at the bottom of the newsletter.In first grade we reviewed all our verbs, and we continue to work on numbers 1-20. In October we have been reading the book "El Artista que Pintó Un Caballo Azul" (The Artist who Painted a Blue Horse. We have been reviewing colors and learning some new animal vocabulary words (El caballo azul "blue horse", el cocodrilo rojo "red crocodile", la vaca amarilla "the yellow cow", el conejo rosado "the pink rabbit", el león verde "the green lion", el elefante anaranjado "the orange elephant", la zorra morada "the purple fox", el oso polar negro "the black polar bear", and el burro con lunarnes "the donkey with spots". In November we will be moving on to learning the sounds of the letters in the Spanish alphabet. Remember you can always look at the "What's Happening" page of our website for more detailed information. I've included the link to our website at the bottom of the newsletter. In second grade we reviewed all our verbs and we are now working on practicing numbers 1-50. In October we have been reading "El Artista qui Pintó Un Caballo Azul"(The Artist who Painted a Blue Horse). We have been reviewing colors and learning some new animal vocabulary words (El caballo azul "blue horse", el cocodrilo rojo "red crocodile", la vaca amarilla "the yellow cow", el conejo rosado "the pink rabbit", el león verde "the green lion", el elefante anaranjado "the orange elephant", la zorra morada "the purple fox", el oso polar negro "the black polar bear", and el burro con lunares" the donkey with spots". We talked about the Dominican Republic. The most relevant facts we discussed were that 1) DR is located on the island, Hispaniola, along with the Haiti and that it was one of the islands that Columbus "discovered". 2) DR is a very poor country and that the dream job for every boy is to be a major league baseball player. Besides the United States the Dominican Republic has produced more MLB super stars than any other country in the world. We watched a short movie trailer showing some Dominican Republic baseball players and their journey to the "Big Leagues". 3) DR is a popular vacation spot and one of the favorite things for people to do is go whale watching. Humpback whales come to the waters around the DR to birth their calves. Culture is always a great way to make the language come alive. The kids are always talking about someone they know visiting a Spanish speaking country. If you have any pictures of your children in a Spanish speaking country I would love to show them to their classes. You can always email them to me. I really enjoyed seeing pictures of everyone visiting the replicas of Columbus' ships. The kids loved sharing that they had seen the ships! If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me at joellejones@madisoncity.k12.al.usHappy fall!!!!Joelle Jones

We must be having fun because time is flying. One fourth of the school year is completed already! It seems like we just started school a few short weeks ago.Although time is going fast we have managed to get a lot accomplished the first nine weeks of school. In Kindergarten we have learned greetings (Hola "hi", adiós "bye", buenos días "good morning", buenas tardes "good afternoon", buenas noches "good night", yo me llamo "my name is.."), verbs ( yo soy "I am", mira "look", escucha "listen", levanta la mano "raise your hand", no hablen "no talking", piensa "think", tiene "has", salta "jump", marcha "march", carmina "walk", corre "run", alto/para "stop", habla "talk", canta "sing", grita "shout", duerme "sleep", applaude "clap", saluda "say hi", señala "point", muerde "bite", llora "cry", basta ya "that's enough"), classroom vocabulary (las tijeras "scissors", la mesa "table", la silla "chair", la alfombra "rug", el lápiz (pencil), los crayones "crayons", el portafolio "portfolio", la puerta "door", las luces "lights" ), numbers one to ten(uno 1, dos 2, tres 3, cuatro 4, cinco 5, seis 6, siete 7, ocho 8, nueve 9, diez 10), and we even managed to fit in some culture about Mexico. We talked about the flag of Mexico, its colors, and the significance of its coat of arms (the eagle sitting on the cactus eating a snake). We also talked about Chichen Itza, ancient Mayan ruins located in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Looking ahead to October we will read "El Oso Café" (Brown Bear, Brown Bear) and we will learn the animals and the colors of the animals in the book. Remember you can always look at the "What's Happening" page of our website for more detailed information. I've included the link to our website at the bottom of the newsletter.In first grade we reviewed all our verbs, we learned some common classroom vocabulary (las tijeras "scissors", la mesa "table", la silla "chair", la alfombra "rug", el lápiz (pencil), los crayones "crayons", el portafolio "portfolio", la puerta "door", las luces "lights" and el papel "paper". We talked about Spain and watched the Disney movie "Ferdinand the Bull". We are currently practicing numbers 1-20. Looking ahead to October we will read "Artista Pinta" (Artist Paints) and we will focus on animals and colors. We will talk more about Spain and "El Día de la Raza"(Christopher Columbus Day) and the three ships he sailed on for his first voyage, La Niña, La Pinta, and La Santa María. Fortunately this year replicas of the Niña and the Pinta will be at Ditto Landing from September 29-October 10th. I am including a link at the bottom of the newsletter so you can find more out information if you would like to see these floating museums. See below for pictures of the ships and some of our students who visited them.In second grade we reviewed all our verbs and we learned some common classroom vocabulary (las tijeras "scissors", la mesa "table", la silla "chair", la alfombra "rug", el lápiz (pencil), los crayones "crayons", el portafolio "portfolio", la puerta "door", las luces "lights" and el papel "paper". we learned some common classroom vocabulary (las tijeras "scissors", la mesa "table", la silla "chair", la alfombra "rug", el lápiz (pencil), los crayones "crayons", el portafolio "portfolio", la puerta "door", las luces "lights" and el papel "paper". We are now working on practicing numbers 1-50. In October we will be reading "Artista Pinta"(Artist Paints) and talking about the Dominican Republic. We chose to talk about the Dominican Republic in October because the World Series takes place in October. Baseball is very popular in the Dominican Republic and we will watch a short video of professional baseball teams recruiting players from the Dominican Republic.I hope you are hearing at home some of Spanish that we have been practicing in class. I know many, many times a day I am greeted in Spanish with "Hola", "Buenos días", or "Buenas tardes". I have been pushing myself to increase my usage of Spanish in the classroom. My ultimate goal is to speak 90% of the time in Spanish. At a conference I was at last year a teacher said something that really resonated with me. She said that students will never learn Spanish by hearing someone speak in English. There are 10,080 minutes a week. I am with my students for only 30 minutes a week. I want to make those minutes count!